This paper reports on the findings about a mentoring project that failed. It is based on a case study in which the writer participated as a mentor of the staff members of the South African Department of Labour. In 2002, the South African Department of Labour (DoL) published a tender ref: Services/ta/cst/p1/wp3 for Communications Skills Training…

This methodology report documents the design, development, and psychometric characteristics of the assessment instruments used in the second wave of the ECLS-B. The assessment instruments discussed measure children's cognitive development (BSF-R), socioemotional functioning (Two Bags Task), security of attachment (TAS-45), and physical development…

This book will help teachers examine and choose reading assessment in relation to current understandings of the reading process, students' development, and the culture of schooling. Each chapter focuses on a particular type of reading assessment to familiarize teachers with the broad array of assessments available; uses the CURRV framework as an…

Quality measures were originally developed for research aimed at describing the settings that children spend time in and identifying the characteristics of these environments that contribute to children's development. They were also developed to guide improvements in practice. Increasingly, however, measures of quality are being used for further…

This report summarizes the 2006-2007 evaluation that was focused toward investigating one primary question: What changes in tool-based, student-centered teaching happen as a result of the infusion of technology and professional development? The research methodology involved the use of trained external researchers from Florida EETT schools…

The purpose of this action research project is to improve student social skills through the use of cooperative learning, in order to develop a positive classroom environment that is conducive to learning. The action research project will involve approximately 95 students, 95 parents, and 200 teachers. It is the intent of the teacher researchers to…

Based on in-depth data from nine demographically similar schools, the study asks five questions in regard to key aspects of the improvement process and that speak to the consequential validity of accountability indicators: Do schools that differ widely according to system performance criteria also differ on the quality of the educational…

This book is the third volume of the paperback versions of "The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, Third Edition." This portion of the handbook considers the tasks of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting empirical materials, and comprises the Handbook's Parts IV ("Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Empirical Materials") and V ("The Art and…

This action research paper dealt with how to increase motivation towards English language learning through cooperative work in a public school in Medellín, Colombia. It was necessary to explore the concepts of teachers' beliefs, social teaching, collaborative and cooperative learning, to understand the conditions and activities that favored…

American culture glorifies the self-made man and this self-making extends to individual identity. The United States celebrates geographical and social mobility and the very anomie this produces is also the site of secular rebirths. In this essay, the author examines a literary genre that draws upon the American faith in self-transformation in an…

In the action research project report the teacher researchers targeted 70 elementary students in third- and fifth-grade classrooms that demonstrated a lack of social skills necessary to work cooperatively in a classroom. The purpose of the project was to improve the social skills in children. The three teacher researchers who conducted this action…

Four teacher researchers focused on the lack of students' proper social skills for this action research project report. In the classes of four teacher researchers, the students were coming to school lacking proper social skills. Because of this, teachers were spending time allocated for the curriculum, on discipline and the instruction of social…

An observational study of reading instruction, using the MS-CISSAR protocol, was conducted in general education classrooms, resource classrooms, and self-contained special education/deaf education classrooms in Grades 1 through 4 in public schools within the tri-state area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Participants were 24 students who…

This article presents a comprehensive model of daily, classroom informal writing assessment that is constantly linked to instruction and the characteristics of proficient writers. Methods for promoting teacher, student, and parent collaboration and their roles in dialoguing, conferencing, and reflection are discussed. Strategies for including…

A study investigated the utility of a set of Spanish-language instructional materials, "Decsubriendo la Lectura," in compensatory or remedial literacy education for Spanish-speaking elementary students. The reading recovery approach, used with English-speaking first-graders, was adapted for Spanish. Program development included…